As the blocks in the culvert at Stadium Junction in the city were painstakingly removed over the last week, activists see a clear violation of human rights in using manual labour for the activity.
The Kozhikode Corporation and the Public Works department had undertaken the works of clearing the culvert after it was found to be the reason for constant water logging in the heart of the city.
Upon inspection it was found that plastic and bloated food remains were the reason for the block and labourers had to go into the culvert through manholes, the pictures of which were splashed across the media.
“It is an inhumane practice that has long been abolished in this country. Those workers were not given any security equipment when they had to be in contact with stinking sewage, which makes it worse,” said Satheesh Parannur, Chairman of the Pouravakasha Samrakshana Samithi in Kozhikode on Monday.
He said that there were any number of machines and methods to remove waste from the culvert. The authorities have been exploiting the poverty of daily wage labourers, forcing them to work in such unhygienic conditions without precautions, Mr. Parannur said, adding that it was a clear violation of human rights.
“We have a history of three people losing their lives in the city in a similar situation,” he said, citing the incident involving the death of labourers Narasimhan and Bhaskar Rao besides autorickshaw driver Noushad who died trying to save them in 2015 in the city.
Meanwhile, Kozhikode Corporation expressed regret over the incident, promising that it would expedite the process to correct the situation urgently.
“We do not want this to repeat. We need machines to clear the culverts and culverts that are suitable for the machines. The Corporation is planning to purchase a machine to clear culverts immediately,” said Mayor Beena Philip.
She also said the culvert in question was not suitable for machines and that the Corporation had no option other than to seek the help of manual labourers.
“We need to redesign our culverts. At the same time we need to take steps to avoid dumping waste inside culverts as was found at the Stadium Junction,” Ms. Philip said.
Meanwhile, the Pouravakasha Samrakshana Samithi has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard.
